Insights to Power Social Good

Lori Rizzo

Recent Posts

A mobile keyword seems really simple right? It’s just a word that someone sends via text message to a short code (essentially a shortened phone number) so they can join a mobile community or make a mobile donation. Sounds basic enough. (Text TANGO to 80077 right now to see it in action). But that keyword is more powerful than you think. It can do so much for your organization. It’s a huge opportunity for you to gain and retain supporters in a whole new way.

Last week, a few of us from mGive headed out to Boulder to join other Certified B Corps at B Corporations‘ Day of Service at Growing Gardens. Now I must admit, I am already very lucky that at my daily “office job” I get to help nonprofits across the country work toward their missions and make the world a better place. However, it is extra special when I get the opportunity to actually get out into the field and help out first hand. And this experience was literally out in a field!

I’ll admit it, I am newbie when it comes to the digital marketing world. However, I totally love it and I am uber eager to immerse myself in it. Since I started my career in the nonprofit space back in 2008 I feel I have learned a lot about nonprofits.

Now I have been presented the opportunity to cross over into a new role where I am going to get to merge my nonprofit knowledge with digital marketing. And you would think I would be super excited to do so. I sure thought I was. But then I was hit with a reality you wouldn’t think my personality would have. I am afraid to post things online. You see I am a feisty red-headed Italian from Boston. Holding back on what I say has never been an issue for me. But now as I have this new role representing my organization, I realized that I speak freely in the verbal/face-to-face world but when it comes to the digital world, I have FOPO: Fear of Posting Online. Fear that what I say could be interpreted incorrectly, reflect poorly on my organization or even cause loss of member support. No one in any organization wants to be the person who caused that right? So do you know what I have done when that happens? Nothing. I posted nothing. I can recall numerous times where I didn’t think my post was perfect so I posted nothing at all. In this case no news is not necessarily good news.

A few years ago I ran the Denver Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon and a spectator had a sign up that said “your leg pain is temporary but your Facebook post will live forever!” Not only was it funny but how true it really was. He was right. I had thought about my post-race Facebook post almost the entire time I trained in the previous months. Since I had only told a few people I was training my Facebook post was going to be the time that I shared it with the world, well maybe not the world but my 800+ friends at least. If everyone managing an organization’s social media or digital marketing are stressing about their post(s) many months in advance, it’s no wonder why there isn’t much being said on social media from within these organizations. Especially when you consider the multitude of traditional and social media platforms used to address supporters.

Since our online persona is a documented reflection of our actual lives we are extra careful to be sure we portray ourselves as we want to be seen. But the digital space feels like we have to analyze ourselves and our messages more than usual and it’s in the back of our minds that it’s in writing and saved online forever….YIKES no wonder I have FOPO. But since we want our digital persona to be as dynamic as our real life persona we have to get over FOPO and show the world how amazing we really are. In case you still have a slight case of FOPO, there is also the lovely delete button in case something is published that has a grammatical or spelling error (though that’s a separate blog post talking about what 140 characters or less is doing to our language and grammar skills). The point is that over time, sharing content becomes easier and you’ll tend to wring your hands less over that message. Your supporters are following you because they want to hear from you so share your message!

So let’s all agree that we are going to shed our FOPO. Creating content and a digital presence is easier than you think and gets more comfortable as you do it more often. Just like real-life networking. So don’t be afraid to digitally network. Be yourself and be proud of your thoughts and ideas. Chances are you’ll find some great people who want to engage with you and your organization.

As online and digital giving methods continue to grow, it’s important to feel confident that your donation successfully reaches its intended recipient. A key element in this process is clarity around who I am giving to, how much am I giving and is my personal information being protected. Knowing your donation is going safely where is it supposed to is a main concern facing all donors regardless of the donation method. We work hard for our money, and we feel passionate about the causes our hard earned money supports. We consider our mobile devices to be an extension of ourselves and our identity. Considering donor needs and providing that donor comfort is one of The mGive Foundation’s primary roles. As the Director of Compliance, I am responsible for ensuring this comfort in the mobile giving space and it is a top priority.

Awareness campaigns are a pretty common event among most nonprofits. Whether it is an awareness day, week or month, there is an awareness campaign for pretty much everything. Are people really more motivated to partake in something because it has great exposure? Well, if I have learned anything from the NFL’s Pink October and ALS’ Ice Bucket Challenge campaigns, it is an unequivocal YES! How can you as a nonprofit leader use this momentum to help increase participation from your supporters not only during the awareness campaign but all year long too?